


Batantiti (To Defer)

by lferion



Series: Iron and Light [24]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, Dwarves, Gen, Introspection, Khazâd November, Khuzdul, Other People's Pictures, Protective Dori, Words Have Meaning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 12:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10696671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lferion/pseuds/lferion
Summary: Dori visits Thorin's resting place.





	Batantiti (To Defer)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks go to Zana & Morgynleri for encouragement & sanity-checking. Part of Iron & Light. Fardald is Dáin's principle advisor after Balin.
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://lferion.tumblr.com/post/154016247610/khazad-november-dori) on Tumblr for Day 25 of Khazâd November.

* * *

Dori went once to Thorin's … resting place. Ori insisted it was not a tomb, certainly not yet, and he was the scholar, not Dori. Not of that kind of thing at any rate. Resting place worked either way, Dori supposed, and upset neither Ori nor Dáin. It was important not to upset Dáin, unintentionally at any rate. Intentionally was occasionally useful. 

It was quiet there, restful even, in an intense, almost listening way. One felt the weight of the Mountain overhead and underfoot in a manner one usually did not, however far into the central living and working spaces of Erebor one might be. One could hear the so-faint song of the Arkenstone in harmony with the (rather ridiculously overlarge and elaborate) glowstone and various Worked things — Orcrist, oddly, sang a very distinct note, that one would think ought to clash with the others, but did not. 

Dori shook his head, looking everywhere but at the figure on the bier. The cushioned bench to the right of the doorway still carried the imprint of someone's rear, and the faintest of lingering scent spoke of Balin. So _this_ was where he vanished to. Not so convinced of demise as he might pretend, but Balin was a politician to the core, so that was not a surprise, even if it was new information. Useful to know, but not something he proposed to share. It was, after all, only a little over a year since the end of the Quest. Not that long to process what they had lost or what they had gained. 

Gained the Mountain, lost King and promising heirs. Gained riches and fame and position, lost something reassuring in the relative obscurity of being ordinary Dwarves. No member of the Company was overlooked now, much as certain troublemakers might wish it otherwise. Gained a king, and Dori himself a patron with whom he could exercise his not inconsiderable skills. Lost … something indefinable in the difference between _Uzbad undu id-'Abad_ and _Melhekh undu id-'Urd._ Both meant 'King under the Mountain', but they were not the same.

Whatever else he might have been, Thorin was _Melhekh_ , after the Kings of old, and Dáin, earnest, hard-working, sensible, practical and surrounded by advisors to whom he listened (as, apparently, he had _not_ as a youth, arguing with Thráin and Thorin both before the gates of Khazad-dum) the more ordinary _Uzbad_. _Melhekh_ still, thought Dori, finally bringing himself to look at the still face, washed clean of battle, framed by neatly combed and braided hair (as it so seldom was — as bad as Ori there, really). Still, in some wordless, inchoate way, Dori's King. It would be simpler, easier, were he not to wake. Easier certainly for the various yammering nobles, all wanting the king's ear, the king's favor, the king's whatever. Easier for Dori to be Dáin's whole-heartedly, though only ever officially the king's courtesan. And Dáin would have to marry, for an heir. Which would complicate things. Easier for Dáin in that there would be no question of his position, no rumbling of uncertainly and unrest.

Would it be _better_ if Thorin were undisputedly, incontrovertibly, irrecoverably dead and gone, this a tomb and the figure before him a statue only? Dori honestly could not say. Ori said that if he did not wake in seven years he never would. Dori figured more than five would see him declared dead and the tomb sealed, to 'stabilize the succession' as Fardald would say, and others would support him with relief to have the matter done with.

Decide when there is deciding to be done, thought Dori, smoothing the fur of the rich robe away from Thorin's face. Until then, he would put his efforts toward Dáin and the needs of the moment.


End file.
